On coming out strong in the second half...
"I got that feeling that it was too easy for us in the first half, we got too comfortable and now Notre Dame is back in the game. But then I thought that we really got established. We were patient and we came out and took some really great shots, and we were in pretty good position defensively. There were times when we were locked in pretty well and other times when we checked out collectively, and that's where we became a little sloppy on both ends, but the majority of the game for us was quality. It was good to see the balance in that game for us."

On his team's preparedness...
"We had to fly in, we got held over in Charlottesville for a little bit, and we had to fly into Chicago instead of coming here. But the silver lining is that we got to have some Giordano's pizza in Chicago, which was worth it, and I don't know if it was the pies that helped the guys or not. But we got to shoot around today, and you hope that your guys, at home or on the road, understand how they have to be and how they have to play. Here, the coaches' locker room is right next to the players locker room, usually I can't hear them before, and that's probably a good thing, and I heard chatter and it seemed awfully lose and I said, `Boy, I don't think we are ready,' but my assistants said that's how they always are, you don't usually hear them. But as I said, the veteran guys developed that patience and defensive intensity early on."

On limiting Garrick Sherman and Eric Atkins...
"We were concerned with Sherman, Atkins and [Pat] Connaughton, mainly those three and knowing that they had other guys that they could get going, obviously Demetrius did. But watching Sherman go against some of the good defensive teams in our league, we said that we were going to trap him on and off. And we talked about being there as quick as we can on the trap and make him get it out of his hands and play from there, and certainly the other guys, make them shoot contested shots. We know they are good shooters but at least let's bother their shots and try to block them out. The majority of the time, we were in the right positions and made Sherman see the trap coming, and we pulled it off."

Their defensive success...
"We always strive on our defense. We practice defense in all of our practices every day so we know that when we come out our defense is going to get us wins. If we come out and start off strong, which I feel like we did today, we have a good chance of winning and we know that we do."

On defending Garrick Sherman...
"It goes with our bigs. Our bigs did a tremendous job on him defensively and with the trap the guards also rotated well so he could not have any easy passes or quick passes. It started with our bigs, and I felt like we definitely keyed off on him. We knew that he is their motor and the motor to their team so we wanted to stop him any way that we could."

On their start in the ACC...
"We just take it one game at a time. We're doing what we do. Out of conference we definitely didn't play our game. When we played Tennessee and got smacked, we knew that we had to come back and play our game and play defense the way we know we do, and I feel like we've done that in the ACC."

On the weather and their disrupted travel plans not getting in the way...
"That's definitely encouraging. I think that speaks to our maturity and our focus that we've developed this season and not letting things crack our unity whether it's outside circumstances or really anything else. We just come out and try to play Virginia basketball every night."

On the offensive efficiency...
"I think we have a lot of confidence in coach Bennett and he has a lot of confidence in us, and what that produces is a chemistry between us and potential and we're maximizing our potential right now. I think everybody is maximizing their potential right now and really playing to their fullest. I think that's why we're clicking so well."

Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey

Opening statement...
"[Virginia] might be the most confident team in the league, and they thoroughly beat us down tonight. I don't know if you ever survive 13 first half turnovers and deserve to win a game. We made some bad decisions, but they're really good defensively and kind of imposed their will on us and broke our spirit a little bit. You look at one of these [defeats], and you're amazed it only counts as one loss. But we will go back to work tomorrow and try to figure out how to regroup and win a league game. But let's give Virginia a lot of credit. I have the utmost respect for how they're playing right now."

On Virginia's defensive success double-teaming Notre Dame post players...
"Well you work on [Virginia's defense] in practice. They consistently clamp the post. We got reps in that the last two days, but you probably can't simulate how they do it. We wanted to get low post touches and wanted to try to make some safer decisions out of the post. But we didn't make enough safe decisions out of there. We kind of wanted to get the ball down [in the post] to see if we could distort them. Later in the game we kind of abandoned that all together and tried the ball screen and roll since we were turning it over so much. I don't know how we made a run [at the end of the first half]. We had 13 turnovers and still had a little life at halftime. I don't think we deserved that. But, in the second half, we couldn't get stops. Virginia runs their stuff and we're on our heels a little bit searching. We're not the most confident group, and you can't simply inject anybody with confidence."

On finding an identity for Notre Dame on offense or defense...
"We're still searching. You would hope at this point in the season, you would have it on at least one end of the floor. We really don't have it on either end right now that we can count on. That's a little bit of a dilemma in what you address first. There can always be defensive effort, and you can always start with that. On offense, tonight's an example of when your three offensive guys can't find a very good rhythm, we may not be able to beat anybody. We tried to put Pat Connaughton in some different situations. They guarded and trapped Eric Atkins very well. Those guys need to be good for us, and they had a tough night. You have to give Virginia credit, but we need to regroup [our scorers] physically and mentally, because those three guys are key for us."

Notre Dame Player Quotes

Zach Auguste  Sophomore  Forward

On what allowed Virginia to have success offensively...
"We didn't really come out like we wanted to. We had to come out like men and we really didn't, so we have to get back to practice tomorrow and try to figure stuff out."

On how the team can get turned around...
"I think a lot of people, including myself, we are spread out. We need to come together more as a team. And I think that's our new motto for the rest of the season."

On why the team is spread out...
"Maybe it's individual stats and stuff. Our minds aren't all there - we've just got to focus on being together and coming together as one team."

Demetrius Jackson  Freshman  Guard

On his intensity coming off the bench the second time...
"The coaches and my teammates did a great job encouraging me and telling me to be aggressive, so I wanted to go out and do that."

On Virginia's difficult defense...
"They're a great team and they do a lot of great things. We play them again this year, and we look forward to that and getting better before then."

On his speed...
"Definitely a gift from God; I'm very thankful for it. I just want to keep getting better, and I want to get back in the gym tomorrow."